Forgiven Much!

Luke 7:36-8:3 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table.  And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 

            Luke is too polite to come right out and say so but this “woman of the city” is a prostitute. She makes her living by her sins.  There’s no getting around who she is—not for Jesus, not for the dinner guests, and most especially, not for the woman.

But to come face to face with our own sin—is actually a very good place to be spiritually—because it is then that we can see our condition for what it is—only then that we can begin to understand God’s forgiveness as the unmerited grace and mercy that it is. 

The woman got it.  Simon and his fellow Pharisees didn’t.  They lived outwardly upright and moral lives.  They were known in the community for their devotion to the Torah.  But the only real difference between the Pharisees and the woman they scorned is that they hadn’t gotten caught in their sins while she had. 

Now, they were certainly not notorious sinners like a prostitute-but they were sinners.  They lusted. They lost their temper.  They stood in judgment of others.  They made their worship an outward show.  They manipulated the law to their own financial advantage.  They were sinners in God’s sight no less than the sinful—their sin was just hidden under a veneer of piety.

And so then, are Luke and Jesus telling us that it is better to be a notorious sinner—that it is better to NOT live an outwardly righteous life?  No.  But they are telling us that it is infinitely better to see the truth about our sins than to hide them behind a façade of outward righteousness. 

Seeing the truth about herself saved this woman’s soul—because in seeing the truth, she also came to know of her need for God’s forgiveness.  We can hide that truth from ourselves—but not from God.  He sees the heart.  The Bible says that:

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." 

            What Simon was really thinking is this:  “If this man were a prophet (and he’s not!), then he would know what sort of woman she was (but he doesn’t!)            

How wrong he was!  Of course Jesus was a prophet—a prophet like no other—who not only spoke the Word of God but was the Word of God in human flesh.  He knew exactly what kind of woman this was—and he knew exactly what kind of man the Pharisee was—and he knows exactly what kind of people we are.

He sees a truth about us that we hide from ourselves—a truth that can only be revealed by the light of his law—a truth that we have sinned and fallen short of his glory and deserve only his condemnation. 

The woman already knew it.  Simon needed to learn it so that he could receive Christ’s forgiveness and experience the joy of a new life like the woman had.

Sometime before our story today, in an event not mentioned in the Gospels, this woman was confronted in her sin and forgiven by Jesus.  We know this because Jesus tells a parable to explain her unrestrained love for the one who had forgiven her.

Jesus said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "Say it, Teacher."  "A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?"  Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly."

            If you are down to your final mortgage payment and someone offers to pay the last thousand dollars—great.  But if you have just taken out a mortgage and you owe 150,000 dollars and someone offers to pay if in full:  Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord!  What a life--changing event that would be!

            The woman who came to Jesus that day had been forgiven more than we can even begin to imagine—and her heart was simply full to bursting with her grateful love for the Lord—and she didn’t care who saw it. 

There’s no nice way to say it—she was making a spectacle of herself and she didn’t care one wit.  Her tears of gratitude were so profuse they wet the Lord’s feet.  She anointed him with perfume.  And she let down her hair to dry his feet of her tears and while she lay before him she kissed his feet. 

If this went on a dinner party in our home today we would be aghast and appalled-- and so were the people that day.  All of them except for Jesus.  He simply, unashamedly receives her love because he knows exactly where that love is coming from:  she is forgiven—her sins are forgotten. She is no longer a woman of the city but now she is a daughter of the King. 

And while the Pharisees draw back in horror at being touched by such a sinner—Jesus doesn’t hold back—not from the notorious sinner—not even from the self-righteous sinners known as Pharisees.

Paul once wrote:  Jesus Christ came to save sinners—of whom I am first.  Paul had once been a Pharisee—a leader of the Pharisees—he was scrupulous in keeping the law.  Outwardly, there are few people who have ever lived who were as holy and pious as he was.  But he knew that the righteousness of his own hands was never be enough to pay for his salvation. 

In Jesus’ parable there are two men who owe money—one who owes a great deal and one who owes only a little—but they share one thing in common—neither can pay what they owe. 

That was true of Paul and it’s true of us.  You and I are not notorious sinners like the woman in our story today—but we still cannot pay what we owe for our sins—only Jesus can do that—and thank God that he has. 

Jesus Christ didn’t hold himself back from the woman that day—as great as was her sin-- and he didn’t hold back from going to Simon the Pharisee’s house—as small as was his sin. 

He didn’t draw back from any part of humanity and their sin-- but offered himself up on the cross as the full and complete payment for it all-for all people—for all time—for us here today.  That sacrifice of love has inspired the same in all of those who have been forgiven by it—just like it did in that sinful woman that day in Simon’s house.

 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.   You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.  You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.   Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little."  And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." 

If you are ever tempted to doubt that Christianity is a religion of pure grace—if you are ever tempted to self-righteousness—if you are ever tempted to believe that we must do something or refrain from something to earn God’s forgiveness—let this scene fill your mind:  a group of the holiest people that humans, by their own efforts, can be. 

And the example of true righteousness and love and holiness that Jesus sets before them and before the world for all time—is not one of their own members, scrupulous in the Law—but a woman (of whom Jesus himself says, her sins were many) a woman who has been forgiven of much and loves much.

Simon’ actions that day indicated the truth of his spiritual life no less than the woman’s notorious sins in the past revealed the truth about her. 

Yes, he had invited Jesus to his home but he had not offered him even one of the common courtesies of the day to show that he was truly welcome.  Essentially he brought Jesus to his home to insult him—each omitted courtesy a slap in the face.  And in Simon’s shameful actions—and in the woman’s loving actions—the truth about their souls were clearly seen.  She loved much because she had been forgiven much.

The forgiveness that we receive through faith in Jesus Christ always changes us.  We do not become perfect people—but we do become new people—and that is shown in our lives by what we do and say—that it is love for Jesus and others that becomes more and more characteristic of our lives—that it is mercy and forgiveness that fills our own hearts--not because there is some law that demands it of us—but because we simply cannot help being transformed by the mercy and love of the man of the cross.

Jesus wants the same life-changing forgiveness for all people—even for those self-righteous Pharisees who didn’t yet know they needed it.  That’s why he said what he did to the woman—“Your sins are forgiven”.

The woman of the city already knew that (though I’m sure it was a blessed confirmation of forgiveness for her to hear it spoke so plainly) but those words were really spoken for everyone else in the room—and for us here today.  The Bible says that those words:

Those who were at table with Jesus began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" 

            That of course is the question, isn’t it?  Who can forgive sins?  And the answer of course is God.  Only God forgives sins and Jesus wanted the people that day and people in every place and time to recognize that that is exactly who he is—God in flesh—forever worthy of our praise and worship and service and sacrifice. 

For anyone else to have received the kind of thanks and love that woman poured out upon Jesus would have been scandalous—but for Jesus—for God in flesh—it was simply what he deserved—from the woman—for Simon and his friends—and from us.  Our love for Christ—and our mercy towards others-- is the mark of a saving faith in him. Jesus said:

"Your faith has saved you; go in peace."  Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him,   and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

Her faith in Jesus saved her—not her reformation of life—not her love—not her acts of worship—but her faith in Jesus and all other good things flowed from that.  Trusting Jesus, she received the deep and abiding peace that always comes to those who know—really know—that they are right in God’s sight.

Jesus’ concern and love for this one woman was not unique.  The same mercy and love and forgiveness was shown to all kinds of different people:  Mary, and Joanna, and Susanna, and many others who were healed of their sin-sickness and delivered from Satan’s bondage down to this moment and these people when Jesus says to us just exactly what he said to the woman that day:  Your sins are forgiven.  Go and peace.  Amen.